Luke Chapter 7

Chapter 7 (Long Questions) 25 minutes

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Choose 1 (one) out of the following 2 (two) questions:

1) a) Give an account of the healing of the Roman officer’s servant at Capernaum. [9]

Chp 7:1-10

- Jesus was in Galilee. After teaching on the plain, he went to Capernaum.

- There was a Roman officer who had a servant who was very dear to him. This servant was sick and about to die.

- When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant.

- They begged Jesus to help the Roman officer and said to Jesus that the officer was worthy to have Jesus help him.

- So Jesus went with them. But he was not far from the house when the officer sent friends to tell Jesus not to trouble himself by coming. The Roman officer considered himself unworthy to have Jesus enter his house nor to meet Jesus in person. The officer was a humble man.

- He compared Jesus’ relationship with God to his relationship with his soldiers. As a soldier who was under authority and one who had others under his authority, he knew that commands would be obeyed immediately by those who were under authority.

- The officer told Jesus to just give the order and his servant would be healed.

- Jesus marvelled at the officer’s faith and told the crowd that he had never found anyone with faith like this, not even among God’s own people.

- When the officers’ messengers went back, they found the servant healed becos of the master’s faith.

b) State four differences between this healing and the raising of the widow’s son at Nain. [4]

Healing of the Roman officer’s servant	Healing of the Widow’s son
1. He was sick and about to die	The man was already dead.
2. Roman officer himself sent people to ask Jesus to help heal his servant.	Jesus himself took the initiative to help the widow.
3. The Roman officer had faith in Jesus to heal his servant.	The widow did not have to exercise any faith on her part.
4. Jesus did not even go near the servant but healed him from a distance	Jesus spoke to the young man and asked him to get up.

c) With reference to both incidents, how did Jesus act in a way contrary to Jewish Customs? [2] (SPM 1993)

Despite the fact that the Roman officer was a Gentile, Jesus readily agreed to go even though entering a Gentile home would defile him. Normally Jews would have nothing to do with Gentiles.

Touching a coffin would defile a person and make him ceremonially unclean. Thus when Jesus came up to the coffin and touched it, he probably shocked the coffin bearers and they stopped. According to the ceremonial law, he would thus be unclean and would need to undergo certain rites in order to become clean again.

OR

2) Jesus often used a physical touch to show compassion to people.
Describe the 2 incidents in which this is clearly seen in his

a) healing of a leper and…. (5:12-15) [4]

- Jesus was in a town where there was a man who was suffering from a dreaded skin disease. When the man saw Jesus, he threw himself down and begged Jesus to heal him saying, “Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean.”

- Jesus reached out, touched him and answered, “ I do want to. Be clean!” Immediately the man was healed.

- Jesus ordered the man not to tell anyone but to go to the priest and let the priest examine him. Then he was to offer the sacrifice as ordered by the Law of Moses to prove to everyone that he was cured.

- However, the news about Jesus continued to spread all the more widely and crowds of people came to hear him and be healed from their diseases.

b) raising of a young man who had died. (7:11-17) [7]

- Jesus was in Nain and a funeral procession came out just as he arrived at the gate of the town. The dead person was the only son of a widow who was all alone without any male protector or provider.

- When Jesus saw her, he was filled with compassion for the woman. He told her not to cry.

- Jesus walked over and touched the coffin.

- The people carrying the coffin stopped.

- Then Jesus spoke to the dead man and asked him to get up. Immediately the man sat up and began to talk, Jesus gave the man back to his mother.

- Those who saw what happened were filled with fear and praised God. They saw Jesus as a great prophet who had come into their midst.

- As a result, Jesus’ fame continued to spread throughout the whole country and the surrounding territory.

Briefly comment on why His touch in each case went against the social

or religious customs of His day [4]

(SPM 1995)

refer pg A27

Healing of the leper

- The Levetical or ceremonial law considered skin disease as something that defiled a person and made him unclean before God. Thus anyone who touched a person suffering from the disease would be considered unclean as well. Socially, someone suffering from leprosy was impure and separated from others. They were considered physically unclean because the disease was infectious and sufferers were forbidden to approach other people. Thus by touching the man, Jesus was going against both the social and religious customs. And this was something that now Jew would do intentionally.

Raising a young man who had died

- Touching a coffin would defile a person and make him ceremonially unclean. When Jesus came up to the coffin and touched, he probably shocked the coffin bearers and they stopped. According to the ceremonial law, he would thus be unclean and would need to undergo certain rites in order to become clean again.

However, for Jesus, following the “law” of love and responding to the need of the widow in this case was more important than being restricted by a ceremonial law regarding outward cleanliness.